Why?
by ErinM
Summary: Cain interrogates Zero. post-series


**Title**: Why?  
**Author**: erinm_4600  
**Characters, Pairing**: Cain and Zero (mentions of Adora, Jeb and random Longcoats and Tin Men)  
**Rating**: PG (I think...)  
**Summary**: Cain interrogates Zero  
**Warning**: post-series *Inspired by _Judas_ by Kelly Clarkson and a little bit of _Farscape_. Came to me in the car, while I was stuck in traffic on the way to job #2.  
**Disclaimer**: The original characters belongs to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors.  
**Originally posted**: Dec 14, 2007

Cain opened the door of the iron suit and stepped back as Zero fell out. Zero stayed on all fours, gasping for breath and coughing. Cain made no effort to help him up at first, fingers looped around his holster.

As Zero began to breathe normally, Cain reached down and grabbed him around the arm, pulling the soldier up. Zero noticed a Tin Man escort vehicle a few feet away, as well as four, freshly-badged, Tin Men.

"Azkadellia?" he asked as Cain pushed him toward the truck. Cain really didn't want to talk to him yet, but answered,

"Free of the witch." Zero looked shocked and surprised, but said nothing else. He made no effort to fight back as the guards put him in the back and bound him in the leg irons attached to the bottom of the bench.

Hours later, Cain entered the small room currently acting as Zero's holding cell. Zero's hands were behind his back and he was attached to his chair by a similar set of leg irons. Cain pulled out the chair opposite Zero and sat, saying nothing. Zero found himself extremely uncomfortable, especially because Cain was so very calm.

If Cain was enjoying watching Zero grow more and more flustered, he wasn't showing it. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Cain leaned forward.

"You feelin' all right? You don't look well." Zero let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Am I supposed to be thankful? Change my ways?" Zero leaned into the table, as if he was sharing a secret. "Beg for forgiveness? 'I'll never be bad again, just please don't put me back in the suit-'"

"I have no intention of putting you back in the suit," Cain said dryly. Zero sat up and looked at the table as a frown crept along his face.

"You're gonna kill me? Finish the job your boy couldn't?" He could hear Cain getting angrier, and didn't care that it was a stupid move. Cain leaned on the table and linked his fingers.

"You're going into a cell. You'll have an entire floor, all to yourself. You'll be treated like royalty." Zero rolled his eyes. He'd rather have a fight, right here and right now. "It'll give you time to think about... anything."

Zero clenched his jaw and focused on a spot on the floor. Cain sighed and rose from his chair. He had almost reached the door when, instead, he turned around and returned to the chair. However, this time he didn't sit. Leaning on the chair back, Cain asked the question that had been nagging him for the last few hours.

"You had the Mystic Man on the Vapors, and you had me in the suit. Why Adora? Why Jeb?" Cain shook his head as he asked. Zero was still looking at the spot as he answered,

"Anyone who opposed the Sorceress-" Cain slammed a hand to the table, causing Zero to jump and look at him.

"You tryin' to tell me that Azkadellia felt threatened by a woman and a boy?" Cain shook his head and sighed heavily. "I know they got away from you in the woods. And I know they found a new home... Did it actually take you five years to find them?" Cain shook his head again. "What happened when you rode up to that house and saw them? What could they possibly have done to deserve that?"

Zero said nothing, his jaw clenching even tighter. Cain moved over to his side so fast that it was all Zero could do to lean away. "Tell me!" Cain screamed in Zero's ear, then immediately stepped back.

Zero swallowed and, in a shaky voice, responded, "I was following orders." Cain raised an eyebrow and moved back toward his chair.

"Those orders include digging a grave?" The air caught in Zero's lungs, and Cain saw it. The Tin Man pulled the chair out and sat again, not saying a word. He could see Zero's resolve beginning to falter. "Why did she have to die?" Cain asked a moment later, barely louder than a whisper.

"I didn't-" Cain was up and slapping the table again.

"Why?!" Zero flinched again and found his voice.

"I didn't kill her!" he yelled back, staring straight at Cain.

"Jeb said-"

"He saw the man who put his father into the suit standing over his mother's body, holding a knife," Zero stated, matter-of-factly, his gaze moving to the tabletop. "I didn't kill her." Cain grunted and moved to the wall.

"I ordered the soldier who did to put Jeb in the suit, and I sent the others back to camp," he said sternly, finally looking up to Cain. "Once they were gone, I killed the soldier and I told Jeb to run. If our paths ever crossed again, I wouldn't hesitate." Zero clenched his jaw and looked back to the table. A few seconds passed before Zero looked up to Cain.

"How did you know?" Cain gave him a blank stare. "How did you know I dug the grave?"

"The marker." Zero closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly.

"I never-" he began. "After I got back to camp, I told the men that Jeb had put up a fight and killed the soldier. And that I had killed him. We packed up and we left." He breathed deeply. "The next time I saw him... well, you know the rest," he ended with a smirk.

Cain pushed away from the wall and moved back to the door. He prepared to open the door and stopped. Turning, he asked one final question, "So, how did it feel? To realize you were wrong?" he added at the look on Zero's face. "All those years ago, when you came to my home. I offered to go with you, peacefully. And I begged you not to arrest me in front of them. In front of Adora..." Zero looked to a spot on the floor even closer than the last.

"I guess that's another thing you'll have to think about." With that, Cain pulled the door open and let it slam shut behind him.

The memories were fresh in Zero's mind, as if they'd happened mere moments, not years, ago: _Catching Adora as she fell back, taking the bloody knife from the hand of one of his soldiers. The utter rage flowing through him as she died in his arms and the boy screamed for his mother. Ordering his men away and knowing, without question, that he was about to take a life. Scaring the boy away with his promising threat and resolving to dig a proper grave. Pulling a plank from the side of the house and carving her name into it, adding a note of 'Forgive me' just below._

His breathing becoming labored, Zero tried to wipe the memories from his mind, and flashed, instead, to the day, nine years ago, when he'd shown up at Wyatt Cain's door.

_"Please," Cain had pleaded, looking toward the house and back. "Adora-" A vicious sneer plastered on his face, Zero spat out,_

"She stopped being my sister the day she married you."

And Zero did something he hadn't done since that night, nearly four years ago, when he'd let a boy go and buried an innocent woman in the dark.

He cried.


End file.
